Page 38 of Death at Fournier Downs
Audrey frowned. “How do you mean?”
“They are connected. I just don’t know how yet.”
It was the same inexplicable feeling she had had as well. “The baby had something to do with the motive for Charlotte’s murder.”
Hugh peered at her, letting her statement linger. “Why do you say that?”
“Instinct, I suppose.”
He nodded. “Most people have rather good instincts; they just fail to listen to them. In this case, I agree with yours. What else does your instinct say?”
“That it was not Bainbury’s child,” she replied.
“You think she had taken a lover,” he replied.
“I do. As do you, if I’m correct.”
“You are.” He grinned and she tried to bury her delight at their exchange. But then, when he remained quiet, she narrowed her eyes.
“You aren’t going to tell me who you suspect?”
“Why, so you can call on him for questioning and alert him to our suspicions? No.”
Audrey hid her further delight at his use of ‘our suspicions’.
“You aren’t going there right now?” she asked.
“I am not. I’m paying a call on Lord and Lady Finborough.”
It took Audrey a moment to place the name. She had not known Bainbury’s second wife, but she recalled how, after their daughter’s death, the marquess and marchioness had withdrawn from society.
If Hugh was calling on them, he had good reason. The most obvious one sent gooseflesh up her arms. “You don’t believe she committed suicide.”
“I know nothing of the sort,” he replied. “But I do have questions.”
Audrey bit her lip. “I could have Kinson drive you there.”
Hugh crossed his arms and pinned her with a knowing look. “And you would, of course, feel compelled to introduce me to the marquess and marchioness.”
“It would only be polite.” Lord and Lady Finborough would more likely give Hugh an audience if he arrived with a duchess.
He sighed and peered out the window at the passing trees. She was certain he was drawing out his answer just to goad her. Or perhaps he knew just how unceremonious it was for her to accompany him. There was no adequate reason for it, other than to mollify her own curiosity…and to avoid going home. It wasn’t that she was avoiding Philip or Cassie, but the prospect of being cooped up in the house all day when she could instead be doing something active to help solve Charlotte’s murder, and now Ida Smith’s, could not have appealed less.
“Very well.” Hugh finally turned away from the window with a teasing grin. “After all, a duchess can do as she pleases.”
ChapterFourteen
Upon leaving Kilton House, the country seat of the Marquess of Finborough, Hugh had the disorienting sensation of having been dropped into the middle of a labyrinth. Seated across from him, Audrey worried her lower lip while staring out the window. Silence surrounded them like a bubble as the driver trundled them back toward Low Heath. It appeared they had both been laid low from the interview with the marquess and marchioness.
The duchess’s presence had been, Hugh was forced to admit, a benefit when they’d first arrived. As most ton would be, Lord Finborough was not keen on speaking to a Bow Street Runner about his daughter’s death four years prior. He’d been immediately suspicious of Hugh’s motives, especially after hearing the news about the newest Lady Bainbury’s demise. He had not been able to turn out a duchess, however, and when Lady Finborough joined them, she expressed gratitude for Audrey’s visit. Unlike her husband, Lady Finborough was not skeptical of their interest in their daughter’s death.
“At last, perhaps someone will listen to us.”
“How do you mean?” Hugh asked.
“Our doubts, of course,” the marchioness answered. “Mary did not die by her own hand. I did not believe it, and neither did his lordship.”
They explained that Mary had been happy, practically radiant the last time they saw her, about a week before her death. She had taken her mother aside and told her that, although it was still early on, she might have some happy news to announce very soon.
